Marion County holds off on voting machine upgrade

12:57 PM,
Jan. 22, 2014

Marion County now relies on 10-year-old optical-scan ballot counters that are programmed to read paper ballots for one precinct each. Some disabled voters use touch-screen voting machines (not pictured).

Written by

The Marion County Election Board is holding off on plans to replace all voting machines this year because there's no money to foot the cost and because its members have a more pressing issue on the horizon.

Without money available for a purchase that could cost up to $15 million, Clerk Beth White and two party appointees say they will focus instead on the details needed to pull off a newly mandated centralized count of absentee ballots for the May 6 primary.

The three-member board unanimously agreed to table the idea, for now, of soliciting proposals from voting equipment venders. White said the ...